Childhood Emotional Abuse and the Attachment System Across the Life Cycle: What Theory and Research Tell Us
By Shelley A. Riggs. The Effect of Childhood Emotional Maltreatment on Later Intimate Relationships, 2010
275 citations recorded by the source corpus.
The purpose of this article is to review the theoretical and empirical literature regarding the normative development of the attachment system from infancy through adulthood, and then discuss deviations from the normal developmental pathways that occur in response to emotionally abusive parenting (e.g., strong rejection, intrusive or controlling, hostile, or frightening behavior). A theoretical model grounded in attachment theory is presented describing the development of maladaptive interaction patterns in adult romantic relationships. The model proposes that early emotional abuse engenders insecure attachment, which impairs emotional regulation, fosters negative views of self and others that support maladaptive coping responses, interferes with social functioning and the capacity for intimate adult attachments, contributes to poor mental health, and consequently shapes the quality of romantic relationships.
Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Health, Social Psychology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fd5e9681078056a9d608c8f2a1e2175f2e422cab
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In Clinical Psychology
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In Social Psychology
Citations in the corpus
- Childhood Emotional Abuse, Adult Attachment, and Depression as Predictors of Relational Adjustment and Psychological Aggression (2010, background): “Research support for this idea comes from studies showing that adverse caregiving experiences and traumatic abuse in childhood are related to insecure adult attachment (Lyons-Ruth & Block, 1996; Riggs, 2010; Riggs & Jacobvitz, 2002) and marital difficulties in adulthood D ow nl oa de d by [ 20 7.”
- A Developmental Process Analysis of the Contribution of Childhood Emotional Abuse to Relationship Violence (2010, background): “Child maltreatment undermines the development and maintenance of adaptive relationships in childhood and beyond (Colman & Widom, 2004; Dodge Reyome, 2010; Ehrensaft et al., 2003; Mueller & Silverman, 1989; Riggs, 2010; Swan & Snow, 2006; Taussig & Culhane, 2010).”